Safe Haven

time: the middle of the sixth year

A gracious golden eagle landed on my shoulder. I smiled at him.

"Hi there." He pecked my ear and I giggled. "Stop, stop. I brought your treat. Here you are."

I snatched a chicken leg out of the pocket, unwrapped it, and gave it to the eagle. He swallowed it in mere seconds and pecked me again in hope for more.

"Sorry, buddy, that's all for today." I extended my arm out and he leapt from my shoulder to my wrist. I looked deep into his eyes and stroked lightly the side of his neck. "I promise I'll bring you more tomorrow."

The eagle called weakly for me then. He spread his mighty wings and tugged me with his claws upward inviting for a flight. He seemed to be more and more at ease with every time we spent together at the lake. We flew together every other day as I turned into my animagus form of a kite, and I always brought him something to feast on.

"I'm not in the mood today. I'm sorry, Talbott."

The name slipped off my tongue and my heart throbbed with pain that I tried to hide away deep inside. It seemed I missed Talbott more than I dared to admit to myself. Disappointed the eagle flew up into the sky and I held my gaze on him until he disappeared from my view.

"You found a friend."

I jumped in fright and turned, wand already in my hand. Under the tree, there was a tall male figure obscured in shadows, but I knew the voice, so I cursed and dropped the hand down. My reflexes became razor-sharp in past years because of my involvement with the cursed vaults. Quicker than my common sense.

I sat back on the grass and stared into the distance embracing my knees.

"Don't tell me you called the bird after me. Or even worse." He cringed at the thought. "That you have mistaken it for me."

I ignored Talbott and hoped he would respect my need for privacy. Except, Talbott didn't walk away. He came close to me and sat beside. Too close for my comfort, as I was fighting conflicted desires whether to lean to or back from him.

He had something in him that made me once wish to get through his barriers, to get to know him, to befriend him, to fall for him. And I did. We went on a terrible first date which then we liked to recall and laugh at how stupid we were. With time he opened up more. He was smart, kind, caring, brave. He grounded me when I got carried away. We started to feel comfortable holding hands in public and cuddle on a sofa in the crowded common room. And then I got my first white feather.

Following row with Ben because of his obsessive over-protectiveness, Charlie accusing me of posing a threat to his younger siblings because of the statue curse, Penny's grudge for Bea's involvement in the search for the last vault, only made everything worse. I snapped. I isolated myself. If earlier I had tried to put on a mask and pretend that everything was ok, now it was an impossible task. Me breaking up with Talbott was the last straw. He was my safe haven in this whirlpool of madness that subdued nightmares. And then when I felt so happy and normal with him, for once after the incident with Rakepick, as if I was an ordinary girl with no concerns involving curse-breaking, I made him leave my life. I cared for him, and I wouldn't handle it if he had regrets about being close to me, when everything would go askew.

And here I was. Broken-hearted, lonely, desperate, speaking to birds.

"It's not safe to be alone so far from the castle at such an hour." Talbott noted.

He was right. It was pretty scary to be at the lake after the attack of the wizard in white robes, but I couldn't help myself. I was suffocating in the castle. I started to wake up screaming at night, but Rowan was always there to calm me down. I was glad I still had her by my side when other people turned their backs on me.